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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
To get your website noticed in the search engines, you need to optimize
your website for Google, Yahoo, Bing so that your website will be on page #1
when people search for your business specialty. My SEO Secrets book gives you
step-by-step instructions you can do to get your website listed on page #1
ahead of all your competitors.
Compelling Content Updates
Once you have started your business and you have your website on the
Internet, if you don't ever do anything further, your website may be doomed for
failure. The thing that makes a site interesting and keeps visitors coming back
to visit is compelling content where they can find "what’s in it for
them". In order to keep visitors and the search engines happy, you'll want
to update at least once a month to keep things fresh and interesting. Writing
fresh content can be very difficult unless you do professional writing for a
living, so consider handing it off to a professional who writes content every
day. This will take the burden off of you and get those updates completed more
frequently.
Inbound Links
There are 2 types of links associated with your website. "Outbound
Links" are the ones where there is a link on your website that links to
another website. "Inbound Links" are the ones where another website
links to your website. To give your website the most advantage with the search
engines, you want as many "Inbound" links as possible because each
inbound link is seen as a "vote" of confidence for your website.
There are many link building strategies you can use, but one simple one is to
ask all of the companies you do business with to place a link on their website
to yours. You can reciprocate with them by placing a link to them on your site.
Networking
Running a business can go easier when you have others that are involved
in your situation where they know details about you and your business. Years
ago you had to rely on in-person meetings with individuals and groups. Today,
networking with your peers and business advisors is so easy through social
media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and others. This is how you
stay connected and involved with others and they can do the same with you.
Free Advertising
One the biggest benefits of Internet marketing are that you can use free
services to advertise your business. Sites like Yelp and Kudzu offer free
classified style ads where you can upload your business information and place
links to your website. Another great place to get free advertising is with
Google Places where visitors can find directions to your front door and have
the chance to leave reviews. And when it comes to "free", be sure to
take advantage or promoting your business everywhere you can. Place a reference
to your website, email address, and all social media accounts on your business
card, in your email signature line, and every piece of promotional material you
produce.
Paid Advertising
If you have a little money to burn, then you can pay for some key
advertising slots that will increase traffic to your site and bring customers
pouring in. Some of the more popular paid advertising ventures include things
like Google Adwords, where you purchase text links and pay by the click up to a
set amount. You may also want to try Stumble Upon and purchasing direct banner
sales on sites with customers you'd like to target. Competitors probably will
not sell to you, so it should be related but non-competitive.
Social Marketing
Social marketing centers around creating content that attracts the
attention of your website visitors and encourages them to share it with their
social networks. Your message spreads from user to user and is viewed as
valuable because it's coming from a trusted source, as opposed to coming
directly from your company. Social marketing is a powerful platform that opens
doors for your business to increase its brand awareness and hold conversations
with your customers. Social marketing is free for most accounts which can't be
beat as an inexpensive platform to implement marketing campaigns. The dominant
social marketing play is to have a business page on Facebook. You can gain
additional exposure using Twitter for shout outs, and YouTube for visual
communications.
E-Newsletters
Email newsletters are the essential foundation of staying in
communication with your customers. Once your business has established a
relationship with a customer, email newsletters are how you keep them informed
of what is happening with your business. If you sold them a product, the
newsletter is where you tell them about new products. If they bought a service
from you, the newsletter is where you tell them about new services. Email
newsletters are incredibly affordable, but you need to be very careful to use a
professional email delivery company to assure that the effort you invest in
your newsletter, does not get lost because the email could not be delivered.
While social marketing companies rise and fall, email newsletters will stand
the test of time by being a consistent voice you have with your customer.
Google Adwords
If your business website is not ranking well with organic search engine optimization,
you can leverage the power of Google Adwords. The process is simple. You
establish an account with Google, set a threshold of money that can be spent
each day, then create your ad. When someone clicks on your ad, the cost of the
ad is deducted from your daily spending limit, and then the user is sent to a
page on your website. To achieve the highest conversion rates, instead of
sending the user to your home page and making them figure out what to do next,
you should send the user to a landing page that is created specifically for
your offer.
Facebook Ads
Now that Facebook has overstepped Google with 500+ million registered
users, another powerful way for your business to reach potential customers is
with Facebook Ads. The process is to design your ad, target who the ad will be
presented to, and then select the pricing and scheduling. The power with
Facebook comes in step #2 where you can target specific demographics for your
ad. This feature opens up so many segmenting possibilities that you can really
narrow the focus of each ad to determine, over time, which demographic offers
the greatest return on investment. Be sure to send the user who clicks on your
ad to a landing page that is created specifically for your offer. Between
Google Adwords and Facebook Ads, your business can reach an audience of
incredible numbers.